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Kong: Skull Island (UHD Blu-ray) review

Plot
This compelling, original adventure tells the story of a diverse team of scientists, soldiers and adventurers uniting to explore a mythical, uncharted island in the Pacific, as dangerous as it is beautiful. Cut off from everything they know, the team ventures into the domain of the mighty Kong, igniting the ultimate battle between man and nature. As their mission of discovery becomes one of survival, they must fight to escape a primal Eden in which humanity does not belong.

My Thoughts
I didn’t venture out to the theater to watch this one even though the reviews were mostly positive—it did get certified “Fresh” on Rottentomatoes.com. Regardless, I knew it would be coming to home video on UHD, so I decided to wait.

For the most part, it’s quite good. The story takes place in the early 1970s and has a lot of star power with the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, and John C. Reilly. While I liked the movie, it does have quite a few flaws—especially in the editing. For example, when going to the island, the ship looks to be carrying a handful of helicopters in one scene, then when they embark on the flight the helicopters have multiplied! Also, I didn’t think Hiddleston’s character added much to the film, although I do like him as an actor and thought he did well in his limited role.

The action is quite intense and the CGI is outstanding. I particularly enjoyed the end battle between Kong and the Skull creature—it reminded me of the Godzilla films when I was a kid!

The presentation on UHD is outstanding in almost every way. The HDR is excellent, the color palette rich and vibrant, and the detail is mesmerizing, especially on Kong. The soundtrack is just as enjoyable and it features a lot of discrete effects from above and behind, solid bass response, and intelligible dialog.

Conclusion
Overall, this one certainly is a keeper and I found it a much more rewarding film that Peter Jackson’s bloated effort from 2005. The story moves at a brisk pace and has some good humor thrown in to keep it light-hearted. Definitely give this one a look.

THIS is what the Godzilla "reboot" should have been like. (And hopefully Kong vs. Godzilla will.)

You want to see a giant, pissed off ape batting a dozen helicopters out of the sky like mosquitos that burst into fireballs?????"Probably have to wait until the big finale, right????"NOPE. Try the TWENTY-FIVE MINUTE mark.

Forgot Glimpsezilla, aka, the last Godzilla movie where you barely even got to SEE the big guy until the too-short final battle. This movie has
ACTION, ACTION, and MORE ACTION.

MONSTER action. And not just the ape. The island is full of overgrown monstrosities, and they pop up often.

You want great actors reading great lines????"Well, sure, but in a movie about a giant ape, that's not even humanly possible!"WRONG. A stellar cast and a smart, succinct script make for the most well-acted, intelligent monster movie ever made.

Jackson [Oscar winner], Larson [Oscar winner], Goodman [Awesome winner], Hiddleston, and Reilly round out a great cast of interesting characters that all actually have a backstory and a realistic MOTIVATION (I swear) to be on monster-filled island of death. Some also get eaten.

You want perfect continuity, so that more helicopters for Kong to smack around aren't added in post????"Well, hadn't really thought of that. I guess, maybe..."
TOO BAD. The studio said "More helicopters dammit!" and the CG guys didn't sleep for a week.

There is so much monster destruction in this it's like some intern miscalculated the CG budget in Excel and everyone just rolled with it.

---

In short, this was a blast. Imagine if Coppola put a big ape in Apocalypse now and then lost a bet as to how many scenes he could shoot showing it smash stuff.

SEE IT.

p.s. I wish that had just called it "Kong". Adding "Skull Island" made it sound cheesy and cheap, and was literally the reason I skipped it in the theater.

Last edited by Brandon Eberhart; 07-19-2017 at 10:39 PM.

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Actually, I saw War of the Planet of the Apes last weekend. It was really good. The special effects aren't very *special* anymore though, because they seem 100% real and it's easy to forget they did not cast real talking apes.

Then I watched part 1 (Rise) and part 2 (Dawn) and they were both great. I had seen them already, but not since they first came out. Oddly, Dawn of the Apes had more ape battles and destruction than War. Too many, really, so I'm glad they toned it down a bit.

Last edited by Brandon Eberhart; 07-22-2017 at 01:41 AM.

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Well today my brother is coming over and we are opening and watching Kong skull Island. I'll let you know what I think. It's just that I've monkeyed around a lot this week with the plan of the apes movie.

Well today my brother is coming over and we are opening and watching Kong skull Island. I'll let you know what I think. It's just that I've monkeyed around a lot this week with the plan of the apes movie.

I didn't make it out to buy Kong today so I'll wait to hear your thoughts,Barry.

First, please excuse the typos. My big computer broke and I'm replacing it next week and I am now dictating into my iPad.
Gosh I respect the opinions of Brandon and David very much but here I must say I very much disagree with them.
This is a silly, illogical, thoughtless movie with fantastic special effects. I dozen helicopters attack King Kong Who smashes them to pieces. So you have to wonder why they didn't fly 50 feet higher. It might be fun to see them smashed but it was dumb.
The characters involved a very stereo typical for these sort of movies. And you knew from the time he was introduced Samuel Jackson was going to drive his men into a menace that he knew they could not survive. And he did. He keeps risking dozens of men, And losing them, in order to save one. Even after that he still goes on losing people to revenge the death of the dead one. But for the most part no one cares about those people who died, there's no memorial service, so long as the girl is OK.
Because I didn't care about most of the characters and because I know which ones have to die in these sorts of movies I found the tent have very little suspense or interest.
Finally, this is not the godfather and you will not be quoting lines from this movie. It's predictable, it's silly, it's often boring but the special effects are great. I can't wait for the sequel Kong: Gillian's Island. I understand the first to go will be the Professor and Maryann